


Summer Break

by molossiamerica (afjakwrites)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Commissioned Work, F/F, Foster Kids AU, Human AU, lapidot - Freeform, this is shameless fluff omg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 05:40:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16011425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afjakwrites/pseuds/molossiamerica
Summary: Lapis is certain that her summer is doomed after she fractures her ankle, but her girlfriend may be able to change her mind.





	Summer Break

**Author's Note:**

  * For [milleniumrex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/milleniumrex/gifts).



> This was a commission for the lovely @milleniumrex who had this adorable idea! My commission info can be found on my tumblr @afjakwrites in my faq!

“Come _ on _ , Per,” comes a sweet, soft voice from the doorway. “You’ve been in here all day and it’s gorgeous outside.”

Peridot doesn’t even look up from the old, half-shattered desktop computer in front of her. With one hand she uses her pliers—part of a tool set painted neon green she’d received for her birthday—to extract a wire from the broken-open computer. With the other, she beckons her girlfriend into the room and readjusts her glasses.

“I’m busy,” she replies in a low tone. 

She hears Lapis as she steps further into the room, the creaking floorboards under her feet giving away her location. Within seconds she’s at Peridot’s side, bumping her slim shoulder against Peridot’s in an attempt to gain her attention. Peridot pays her no mind, hyper-focused on the object before her. For a moment, the room is silent as Peridot works, Lapis waiting patiently at her side. 

Then, Lapis lets out a sigh and lays a delicate palm on Peridot’s shoulder. “Steven wants to go outside and play,” she croons. 

Peridot grimaces, raising her head the slightest bit. Her eyes flicker over Lapis’ face, taking in the elder girl at her side. She’s always thrown by a loop by how beautiful Lapis is, with her stark black hair dyed blue at the ends falling just above her slight shoulders. She’s tall and slender, every movement she makes appearing so fluid and graceful Peridot half wondered whether she was a dancer when they first met, but no—Lapis is a swimmer, and it shows. As graceful as she is on land, she’s even more so in the water. When she swims, she performs her most intricate dance of them all. 

Peridot loves to see Lapis swim. She loves the triumphant smile on her girlfriend’s face when she gets out of the water after a training session, panting yet refreshed. She loves the glint of her narrow eyes when she beats a record or masters a new trick. Most of all, she loves the comfort, the relaxed calm on Lapis’ face when she swims. She loves seeing her girlfriend, so shy and anxious on land, fall into her perfect rhythm and truly let go underwater. 

Lapis gives Peridot a soft smile that reaches her dark eyes and Peridot returns it easily before turning back to her work. 

“Steven always wants to play,” says Peridot in return, “and there’s plenty of people around. Why doesn’t he ask Amethyst or—”

Lapis cuts Peridot off with a gentle kiss to her cheek. Her slim hands find the collar of Peridot’s shirt and she tugs the girl forward the slightest bit, gaining her undivided attention. “ _ I _ want to play too,” adds Lapis. 

Peridot can’t help but for her face to go red. Lapis is gentle and they’ve taken things slow, but she’s still nervous—always is, even though Lapis is calm and stable and kind. She’s fourteen and Lapis is her first—well, everything. Her first crush, her first kiss, her first girlfriend. The mere fact that she’s managed to get this far, to have already been in a relationship with Lapis for three weeks, is enough to make her a bit lightheaded. But Lapis’ unwavering affection, expressed slowly and with great shyness at first but which the elder girl is now more openly showing, flusters Peridot beyond measure. 

Peridot’s eyes flicker back down to the mismatched pieces of machinery laid out on her desk and then she looks back up to Lapis, deciding that a break couldn’t hurt. Slowly, she wraps her arms around Lapis’ waist and closes in the last of the space between them, planting a gentle kiss on Lapis’ lips. 

“Hey, guys, I found a frisbee, let’s—o-oh! Sorry!” 

Peridot and Lapis jump apart to find Steven standing in the doorway, a hand on his neck and an embarrassed grin set upon his face. He’s turning away when Lapis laughs softly and calls out to him, asking him to stay. 

“We were just about to come down. What’s this about a frisbee?” Lapis tells him, walking to the doorway with her hand in Peridot’s. 

The blush on Steven’s cheeks quickly dissipates and he’s back to his normal, boisterous self. He proudly displays a frisbee to the pair, beaming as though he’s made the discovery of a lifetime. 

“It was in the shed! Do you guys wanna come down and play catch?” 

“I’ll come down,” Peridot agrees in her usual nasal tone, “but I don’t feel like playing right now. I’d rather watch you two.” 

“As long as you come with!” Steven laughs. “Hey, you can keep score on your phone if you want!”

Peridot brightens and is pulled out of her bedroom and then out of the house. The trio heads to the beach, Peridot speaking in her usual high-pitched, somewhat nasal tone about the most recent episode of her favorite show. Steven, who had first introduced Peridot to the wonders of TV dramas, gushes about the onscreen romance between two characters and he and Peridot argue playfully about who the main character should end up with. Lapis follows along, content to listen (and laugh whenever one of them makes a particularly absurd statement). 

When they finally reach the beach, Peridot situates herself on some tall rocks about ten feet away from where Lapis and Steven are playing, fiddling idly with her phone. Occasionally she looks up, admiring her two closest friends as they laugh and play. Lapis moves gracefully as per usual, effortlessly catching the frisbee each time Steven throws it. Steven is a bit more clumsy, frequently missing or falling before he can catch it, but they laugh it off each time. 

Peridot begins to feel glad that she’d been asked to leave the house—it was a beautiful day. The sun was high in the sky and beaming down upon them, but the cool ocean beside them kept the air from heating up too much. It was perfect weather to relax outside and watch her athletic girlfriend and her clumsy best friend run around the beach.

That is, until Steven throws the frisbee particularly hard and it goes flying out toward the ocean. He calls out a sorry as Lapis rushes after it, telling her that it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t catch it since it was so far out. But Lapis races after it anyway, sprinting after the flying disc as fast as she can. She’s near enough to it to jump after it, her hands closing around the frisbee in mid air. She opens her mouth to let out a triumphant yell, only for her face to contort with pain when she lands on a rock wet with ocean water and falls to the side, pain exploding in her right ankle. 

“Lapis!” Steven and Peridot shout in unison.

Steven has already started after her when Peridot leaps up from her seat on the ground and starts running toward her. When she reaches her girlfriend, Steven’s already knelt beside Lapis, his hand on her shoulder and looking worriedly down at her. Peridot skips to a stop in front of the pair, noting the pain in Lapis’ face with mounting concern. 

“L-Lapis! Are you okay?!” Peridot cries. 

“I’m fine, I just—” Lapis lets out a hiss of pain and then grits her teeth. “I j-just landed on my ankle weird. It’s not a big deal, I-I’m alright—”

Peridot drops down into the sand beside Lapis and looks to her ankle, wincing. “I don’t think you’re alright, Lapis. It looks like it’s starting to swell up.”

“No, no, it’s alright, I just need to rest for a second and I’ll be fine.” Lapis insists, her breathing heavy and her jaw clenched tightly. Peridot isn’t sure, but she thinks she even sees Lapis blinking away the beginnings of tears. 

“I really think we should take you to the hospital or something, just in case,” says Steven worriedly, “I-I’m gonna go get someone and see what we need to do!” 

“Steven, don’t—!” Lapis yells, but Steven is already on his feet and making a mad dash toward the house. She groans, drops her head into her hands, and shakes her head. “I’m not hurt! I just need to rest for a minute, he’s making a big deal out of nothing!” 

Peridot frowns. It’s not often that she sees her level-headed girlfriend upset, let alone upset enough to raise her voice. It’s surprising, but she knows that what’s most important is comforting Lapis, so she shrugs off her shock and pulls Lapis closer, letting the elder girl lean against her for support. 

“It won’t hurt to check. ‘Sides, it doesn’t look good.” Peridot points to Lapis’ injured ankle, grimacing at the swelling. 

Lapis shakes her head rapidly, black hair falling into her face. “Yes it will! I signed up for the baseball team, the soccer team, the volleyball team, and the swim team! If something’s wrong with it, I’m not going to be able to do any of that! Then what am I supposed to do all summer?!” She cries, frustrated.

“Hey, hey, it’ll be okay! Don’t worry—at least you still have your legs!” Peridot says, gesturing to her pair of prosthetic legs. She’d meant for it to be comforting, but she can tell by the look on Lapis’ face that the older girl hadn’t taken it that way. Peridot falters, feeling stupid and insensitive, her face red. 

“Per, don’t be embarrassed,” Lapis says quickly, noting her girlfriend’s shame. 

Peridot shakes her head. “I’m sorry,” she says quickly, “that didn’t come out right. What I meant is that it’ll heal and then you can play all the sports you want.”

Lapis opens her mouth to answer, only to be interrupted by the familiar voice of Pearl. 

“Oh my goodness, Lapis! What happened?!” She cries, rushing forward. One look at Lapis’ injured ankle and she’d scooped the girl into her arms, carrying her to the car. 

They made it to the hospital in record time, where Lapis was given an x-ray while Pearl fretted about nervously. The doctor was quick to come back with her diagnosis: a fractured ankle which would require a cast for anywhere from six to eight weeks. Lapis had listened, fighting back tears, as the doctor told her that all strenuous physical activity was out of the question. 

The doctor had sent Lapis away with a pair of crutches and a cast. She’d tried to keep the emotion out of her voice when she’d insisted to Pearl that she was fine, but even she didn’t believe herself. Not even the offer of Pho—Lapis’ favorite—for dinner had been able to cheer her up. Pearl tried to keep her spirits high and her words optimistic, but Lapis only grew more and more annoyed by her attempts to help. Lapis knew her foster mother meant well, but all of the things she suggested that Lapis do paled in comparison to the fast-paced fun that came with sports. 

When Lapis steps into the house, the entirety of the family descends upon her at once. She’s quick to reassure them that she’s alright, heading up the stairs to her bedroom as quickly as the unfamiliar crutches will allow her. She’s trailed by both Peridot and Steven, who are clearly worried for her and want to talk, but she can’t bear their constant talking and asks for some alone time. Steven’s shoulders slump and Peridot pouts, but Lapis can’t bring herself to feel guilty—she shuts the door to her bedroom and locks it behind her, flopping face-down onto her bed with a huff. 

She’s left alone for all of twenty-four hours (aside from the occasional check-in from one of her foster mothers) before Steven and Peridot begin to pester her. They start small, asking her to come downstairs and watch TV with them. When that fails, they ask her if they can come into her room, suggesting various activities. Still, she rejects them, far too upset to pretend to be cheerful for their sake. She thinks they’ve given up on her when she doesn’t hear from them for over an hour, but then there’s a knock at the door and Steven pokes his head into her room. 

“Lapis? I found a really pretty seashell I thought you might like,” he tells her. 

She raises her head and manages a weak smile, finding his attempts to cheer her up both endearing and exhausting all at once. “Thanks, Steven. You can put it over there,” she says, motioning vaguely toward her bookshelf with one hand.

Steven nods and sets it gently down on her bookshelf. Then, he scampers out of the room with a suspiciously cheerful call of “bye, Lapis!” Before Lapis can ponder over his strange behavior, though, there’s another knock at the door and this time Peridot’s familiar mop of fluffy blonde hair appears in the doorway. 

“Lapis, I found a really pretty blue rock by the ocean for you!” She exclaims. 

Lapis quirks a brow. “Thanks, Per. You can, er, set it over there by Steven’s shell.”

Peridot nods and does as she’s told, then approaches Lapis and sheepishly leans in, kissing her forehead. “Feel better, Lapis.” She says embarrassedly before stepping out of the room. 

For the rest of the day, Peridot and Steven are in and out of Lapis’ room, bearing gifts each time they enter. By the time night falls, there’s a stack of presents—including a half-eaten box of donuts from Big Donut, a stuffed bear from the arcade, and a pair of blue sunglasses found at a thrift shop—on her bookshelf. 

Each time Steven and Peridot come into her room, they stay for longer, slowly coaxing her into conversing with them. Finally, Steven has managed to be invited to sit in bed with her and talk, and he asks to sign her case. At first Lapis objects, but Steven is as persistent as ever and quickly talks her into it. She allows him to sign the cast in pink sharpie and then smiles, seeing that he’s drawn a small picture for her beside his name. 

“Hey, you should let the rest of the family sign it too!” Steven exclaims, eyes brightening with his idea. 

Lapis makes a face. “I don’t—”

“Awww, Lapis, c’mon! Don’t you wanna have a cute cast instead of a boring one?” Peridot asks. 

When Lapis frowns at her, her cheeks go red and she backtracks. “Sorry—It’s just, the rest of us want to see you too, you know.” 

Lapis can’t help it but to sigh, defeated. Her girlfriend was far too cute for her to resist, so she reluctantly nodded and allowed them to father the rest of the family. Amethyst, Pearl, Sapphire and Ruby all come in and sign their names one by one, each in a color assigned to them by Steven. Then, she invites everyone to draw on her cast, which leads to the colorful cacophony of signatures and random images that now cover her cast.

Usually Lapis wouldn’t be comfortable with something that contained so much vibrant color—it drew too much attention to her, and that was the last thing she wanted. But now, faced with the caring faces of the family she’s come to love, she finds that she doesn’t mind all that much. In fact, it warms her heart to know that she’s so well-loved. For the first time since she’d sustained her injury, the ache in her heart subsides and she’s able to breath out with relief. 

The following day, Peridot sticks her head in the doorway of Lapis’ bedroom and smiles softly. “I need a break from the lab,” she announces in an uncharacteristically quiet tone, clearly trying to appeal to Lapis’ softer side. 

Lapis looks up at her and heart warms. “Wanna watch TV?” She suggests. 

Peridot’s smile becomes a grin and she nods, practically running to Lapis’ bed. She jumps into the mound of blankets and pillows and tugs them toward her girlfriend, snuggling against Lapis’ side and wrapping her up. Lapis turns on their favorite show—the one they only watch together—and rests her chin atop Peridot’s head. 

They spend several days this way, laying around in Lapis’ room. They watch TV and talk into the wee hours, discussing everything from favorite songs to the most intimate secrets. Peridot is patient with Lapis; she occasionally says the wrong thing, but she never pressures the elder girl to share anything she doesn’t want to. She allows Lapis to choose when and what she will discuss regarding her life before their current foster home without a hint of anger, and Lapis loves her all the more for it. Peridot can certainly be frustrating at times—she’s insensitive, overly critical, and highly analytical—but but she’s also one of the only people Lapis feels truly comfortable with. There aren’t many others like her, after all, and she’s grateful for the easy understanding that exists between her and Peridot. 

Eventually Steven pushes his way into their bubble, as they’d both expected. He’s hesitant at first, understanding their want for privacy. More than once he walks in on the girls with their arms around each other, kissing, and clears his throat awkwardly. At first he’s only stopping in to say ‘hi’ and let them both know where he’ll be, but eventually they’re coaxing hm in and asking him to stay and talk with them. As always, he’s happy to do so, bounding to Lapis’ bed and hopping up onto it with a story about whatever had happened to him that day. 

Steven also encourages Lapis to start practicing on her crutches, which she does. They’re a pain to get used to and they make moving extremely difficult, but everyone’s patient with her, Peridot especially. As Lapis struggles with her crutches, she listens to her girlfriend’s stories about her experiences with two prosthetic legs and is encouraged by them more often than not. Peridot may be a bit clumsy (although Lapis suspects that’s her girlfriend’s natural disposition rather than the fault of the prosthetics), but she’s fluid and her stories motivate Lapis. Soon, she’s walking well on them, moving around the house and occasionally outside. 

Finally, Peridot takes her out. The fair’s in town and Lapis is disappointed, telling Peridot during dinner that she can’t go because of her ankle. Peridot persists, though, and she is persuaded to leave the house and accompany her girlfriend to the fair that weekend. 

She finds her nicest dress—a beautiful, knee-length blue sundress—and does her makeup. Peridot comes to her room in a button-down shirt printed with small caricatures of aliens and a pair of jean shorts. 

“You look beautiful,” Peridot says sheepishly, learning in to kiss Lapis on the cheek.  

Lapis smiles softly and returns the favor before pulling away to rake her dark eyes up her girlfriend’s body. With a nod, Peridot is given Lapis’ stamp of approval and they head out. 

The walk to the fair is short, made only slightly longer by Lapis’ crutches. When they arrive, Peridot takes Lapis to all of the carnival games, insisting that she will win something for her. It takes her about twenty tries at various different games, but she finally manages to win Lapis a small goldfish. Lapis, on the other hand, has a natural talent for carnival games—her good eye and strong arm help her knock down three bottles in record time. She is rewarded for her efforts with a small stuffed animal, which she gifts to Peridot. 

Peridot treats her to greasy, overpriced fair food and they find a seat away from the crowds. Peridot is speaking loudly over the music of the fair, her arm draped across the table and Lapis’ hand in hers. Lapis listens intently and smiles along, marveling at how lovely and sweet Peridot can be.

Her heart is warm and light here at the fair, her girlfriend across from her grinning happily. Even with a cast on her leg, she’s happy—Peridot is there beside her, and that’s all she really wants at the moment. It wasn’t at all what she’d expected—there was no never-ending stream of games for her to play, no days spent in the ocean practicing her swimming and nights spent on the beach with the family, running around, laughing and talking—but it wasn’t bad, either. She was happy just as she was, even if it wasn’t what she’d planned. 

“Lapis? What’re you thinking about?” Peridot asks, head tilting to the side inquisitively. 

Lapis smiles safely at her. “Just how great you are.” 

The blush on Peridot’s face, the glow in her smiling eyes when the fair lights reflect off of her pretty face, is more than enough to make it all worth it to Lapis. 


End file.
